Strategy with the Slogan of Democracy: a Speculation for Nepal

Lenin had worked with other political parties and collectively they had also made a Constitution through a Constitutional Assembly.

What Lenin and his party, the Bolsheviks, did with that first post-monarchic Constitution of Russia is history. History has lessons for those who understand them. Maoists and other communists of Nepal admire and follow Lenin, together with Marx and Mao. They are knowledgeable about the process of communist revolutions and know the tactics employed in such revolutions are to be emulated as divine revelations.

Hence after following Mao’s tactics for ten years, Lenin’s tactics of getting other parties to enhance one’s cause and to make urban entry, using other parties as a shield or cover is a plausible thing to do. In consonance with the ethos of the current uni-polar world, a cover is also needed. The slogan of democracy is appropriate. Communists advocating democracy seems to be a very effective and convincing cover and not at all contradictory.

Here, in Nepal, we have Indian geopolitical factor in operation also. What India did, to instigate, train, arm, and unleash the Tamil Tigers, took them up to the brink of success. It had created a condition to intervened militarily to “save” the Sri Lankan government. Such actions had enabled India to obtain geopolitical concessions, particularly on conditions and terms of the use of seaports of Sri Lanka. Such tactics maybe points for analysis or to draw parallels. Use and utility of the slogan of democracy that had been propagated through Lhendup Dorjees (Quislings) has been well documented in the case of the demise of Sikkim as a country in the early seventies. Sikkimese people had been made to believe that they would have their own republican country. They ended up being residents of a province of a republic. It was a successful tactic. Successful tactics are fit to be replicated.

Given such parallels of the communist revolutions, and the geopolitics of India and the current political developments in Nepal, speculation maybe worth making as to the geopolitical strategy and tactics through the use of the slogans of democracy. And what the Communists may do, as well as, to what extent they maybe allowed to continue doing whatever they think they are doing may also deserve speculations. The compliant political parties, including the communists, maybe instrumental in keeping Nepal simmering, but they may not be allowed to make Nepal boil over. In fact geopolitically, facilitating the compliant parties to push Nepal upto the boiling point could produce the opportune moment for direct and overt intervention to “save Nepal and democracy.” The following speculative points could well be the twelve-point geopolitical tactics being directed against Nepal currently.

1. Withhold arms to the Nepali Security Forces that never had an offensive capacity and requisite intelligence network.

2. Convince the other countries to do so, of course, for the “love of democracy”. While at the same time, exonerate the lack of democracy in Bhutan and Maldeep and ignore such lack of democracy in other neighbouring countries. Western countries do also have selective and location specific “love for democracy”, so can India. So it is not a problem to get the West to concur with such geopolitical tactics, if used with the slogan of democracy.

3. Put pressures on the Maoists to halt aggressive attacks and work with other compliant political parties. After all, the Maoists too are geopolitically dependent in an India-locked country, and have become visibly compliant. So Indo-compliant and Indo-dependent parties working together can produce the desired geopolitical synergy not obtained when they were instructed to functioning separately.

4. So instruct the other Indo-dependent political parties to go along the Maoist lines. This is necessary, as democratic parties do not have the capacity and the required popular base to stand on their own without going along with the communists.

5. Spread propaganda that reciprocation of ceasefire by the security forces without offensive capacity and which lack total outreach in the country is needed for “Peace”. Divert public and international attention from the fact that declaring unilateral ceasefire has not been the same as implementing the ceasefire.

6. Exacerbate the chaos also in the secure urban areas by instigation, encouragement and financing of agitations with the slogan of democracy. The morale of the defenders against insurgency and instigated agitations has to be shaken.

7. With even the defensive capacity of the security forces reduced (due to arms embargo) and rising tempo of chaos in urban areas, intervene at an appropriate time (as in Sri Lanka) to “rescue” Nepal from violence and to purportedly “deliver peace and democracy.”

8. Obtain the agreement and support of Western countries like Britain and others, who have already outsourced their Nepal foreign policy to Delhi. The required propaganda to sway world opinion can easily be produced by lucrative financing of journalists.

9. Squash the Maoists after their utility is over, if they are not compliant as in the present.

10. Install a puppet regime, without the mandate of the people of Nepal. And make the Nepali intellectuals believe that Nepal has no national interests to preserve and protect, so as to ensure that no nationalist institution or groups will ever assert themselves again – ever.

11. Obtain due geopolitical spoils from the “Quisling” government.

12. Enhance and consolidate one’s regional hegemony. The slogan of “Peace and democracy” can be immensely helpful in such an enterprise. Project oneself as the protector of democracy and one does get the right not only to intervene and subjugate, but also, if need be, to make pre-emptive strikes on mere suspicion or false information.

Hopefully, speculations such as these are totally wrong.

Hopefully, India will be magnanimous as she has never been with all her neighbours in the past fifty-five years. Hopefully, there will not be such a thing called geopolitics and attempts at hegemony, subjugation or annexation. Hopefully, the slogans of democracy will translate into our political reality.

Hopefully, Communism, as an ideology, has been miraculously transformed into the ideology of democracy as hoped for by the European Union and Britain. Hopefully, the speeches of our communists talking about democracy as a stage or a means to eventually obtain a totalitarian, communist State are just idle talks.

Hopefully, the same old inept, myopic and corrupt “democratic” political leaders will be able to deliver and operate a true and complete democracy. Hopefully, we will not have to suffer in the special democratic period (with no specified time limit), which the Western countries call “a transitional phase.”

Hopefully, even if we do have to suffer in such a democratic, “transitional phase”, as envisaged by the westerners, we will patiently endure such sufferings and will be overjoyed to “take up the cross and follow them.” After all, who does not wish or hope to have a heaven on earth?